Healthy Brands rep describes its products

BY FRANCIS CARR Jr.Hour Staff Writer

Published
2:15 pm EDT, Monday, April 13, 2015

NORWALK -- "What most people don't realize is there's actually no known allergies to hemp," says Marcus Gordon, National Sales Manager of the Norwalk-based Healthy Brands group of health food companies. "There's not a single person in the entire world that's allergic to hemp."

Gordon -- who says he has no degree in anything, but is a self-described "health food advocate (who) reads a lot" -- is detailing the process by which Healthy Brands develops new products.

"It always starts with an idea," Gordon tells The Hour. "Most times, it starts with me wandering through stores, looking at things and trying to figure out, 'Okay, how can I make something a little bit more unique? ... A little bit healthier?'"

In the present example, Gordon is speaking of a hemp-based tofu substitute that was his brainchild, now known to the world as Tempt Hemp Tofu. (Tempt, a line of hemp-based dairy substitutes, is one of Healthy Brands Collective's leading subsidies; 12 years ago, it was the first company to market hemp milk.)

"I'm a pescetarian myself, so I'm geared more towards vegetarianism, and I don't like soy, even if it's organic soy," Gordon says. "If you're familiar with soy, you know there's a lot of negative rep around it."

"(Soy contains) phytoestrogen, so men don't necessarily want to consume a lot of soy," Gordon adds.

These thoughts led Gordon to conceive of the idea for a hemp tofu alternative -- which, by Gordon's own account, is where his involvement in the product's development ends.

It fell to Gordon's fiancé, Laura Licata ("an amazing baker and a phenomenal chef"), to carry the hempen, tofu-like torch through the research and development phases -- "To crack the Pandora's box of how to make it (hold together)," says Gordon.

"We tasked (Licata) with trying to figure out how to make a hemp tofu, so she had to learn traditional tofu-making processes," Gordon says. "Basically, it was a lot of hours in the kitchen; trial and error, trial and error."

When Gordon, Licata and company were satisfied that their product was salable, they flew to Austin, Texas, and pitched their idea to the bigwigs at Whole Foods corporate headquarters. Healthy Brands representatives showed Whole Foods eight flavors of tofu; Whole Foods picked four that were to their liking, and a deal was made, resulting in a one-year exclusive contract with Whole Foods, who gave the product distribution in Whole Foods stores across the nation. Since the end of the yearlong exclusivity period, Gordon has worked to expand the distribution of Tempt Hemp Tofu.

"And that's how an item makes it from an ideation phase to market," Gordon concludes.

Gordon says his advocacy of hemp-based soy and dairy alternatives derives in part from hemp's hypo-allergenic qualities, and partly from its nutritional value. Hemp is "insanely nutrient-dense," he says, and contains minerals, amino acids, and a whole lot of protein -- Gordon claims that Tempt contains 30g of protein per 8 oz. block of hemp tofu.

"Hemp is amazing in that it's a great protein alternative for vegans and vegetarians," Gordon says.

More hemp-based food products are in development, according to Gordon.

"We're working on a hemp cheese," which Gordon says he hopes will be kitchen-ready by October.